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A review by bex_knighthunterbooks
Not Your Sidekick by C.B. Lee
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
An entertaining read, with a cute Sapphic romance, lovable characters, and a new take on the superhero genre.
To be honest, I'm pretty uninterested in superheroes, having suffered pretty early from the oversaturation, however this was different enough to keep my interest. The story is set a few hundred years in our future, after a period of 'disasters' following a massive solar flare. I did enjoy this as a starting point, but for me I found the setting too familiar given the huge upheaval - I'd have liked to see more differences against our contemporary world to make it feel real, but this might not be a complaint I'd have had if I'd read this as a teenager.
I liked that the characters were generally diverse and queer, although on the world building side they are diverse and queer in very similar ways to people today, without the questioning of these norms (e.g. around gender). I did find the characters really likeable though, and especially enjoyed the main romance with it's good length build up. Jess was quite frustratingly oblivious and naïve for most of the book, but once I realised that was just what the story was going for I stopped eye rolling quite so hard.
I was initially concerned that this was going to play 'straight' the heroes vs. villains dichotomy, and so was very pleased when the story started to ask the questions of what makes a hero and are the villains really evil, and explore the government's role in all this and the purpose of celebrity culture. It took a while to get to this interesting stuff though, and I'd say this doesn't standalone well - the sequels are needed to actually resolve the main plot! The plot itself felt very convenient at times, with decisions not always making sense to me.
This is fun if you don't think about it too deeply!
To be honest, I'm pretty uninterested in superheroes, having suffered pretty early from the oversaturation, however this was different enough to keep my interest. The story is set a few hundred years in our future, after a period of 'disasters' following a massive solar flare. I did enjoy this as a starting point, but for me I found the setting too familiar given the huge upheaval - I'd have liked to see more differences against our contemporary world to make it feel real, but this might not be a complaint I'd have had if I'd read this as a teenager.
I liked that the characters were generally diverse and queer, although on the world building side they are diverse and queer in very similar ways to people today, without the questioning of these norms (e.g. around gender). I did find the characters really likeable though, and especially enjoyed the main romance with it's good length build up. Jess was quite frustratingly oblivious and naïve for most of the book, but once I realised that was just what the story was going for I stopped eye rolling quite so hard.
I was initially concerned that this was going to play 'straight' the heroes vs. villains dichotomy, and so was very pleased when the story started to ask the questions of what makes a hero and are the villains really evil, and explore the government's role in all this and the purpose of celebrity culture. It took a while to get to this interesting stuff though, and I'd say this doesn't standalone well - the sequels are needed to actually resolve the main plot! The plot itself felt very convenient at times, with decisions not always making sense to me.
This is fun if you don't think about it too deeply!